profile

JDS / Julien De Smedt Architects is a multidisciplinary office that focuses on architecture and design, from large scale planning to furniture. Rich with multiple expertises, our office is fuelled by talented designers and experienced architects that jointly develop projects from early sketches to on-site supervision. All of which, regardless of scale, outlines an approach that is affirmatively social in its outcome, enthusiastic in its ambition and professional in its process. At the core of our architecture is the ability to take a fresh look at design issues through experienced eyes. Our approach aims at turning intense research and analysis of practical and theoretical matters into the driving forces of design. By continuously developing rigorous methods of analysis and execution, JDS is able to combine innovative thinking and efficient production.

Founded and directed by Julien De Smedt (co-founder of PLOT), JDS currently employs some 30 people with offices in Copenhagen, Brussels and Shanghai. We work with corporate, government and private clients in numerous countries to realize major civic, hotel, residential, office, commercial, health care, educational, and waterfront developments. We carefully limit the commissions we take on to help ensure a high degree of professional attention and overall project quality. JDS envisions itself as a proactive partner for its client, rather than a consultant. The office has a wide portfolio of international work and the attitude of involving external consultants to improve the design intelligence of a given project team. The use of complementing teams ensures that a project will never suffer from being neither too conventional nor too naive.